A Collision

Last night, outside Union Station, a woman was hit by a bus. I heard her scream. When I got there, her right ankle had been shattered. A long gash ran up her leg, and her foot hung as though on a rope. I called 911. There was blood pooling in the crevice that had been her ankle, and some of it was dripping onto the pavement, but as it was not gushing I did not touch it to stop the blood flow. I took off my backpack, and put it under her, so that she could lean against it.

She looked like my Dad’s mom had, twenty years ago. She was in her late sixties, substantially overweight, and her skin had the pallor of lymphedema. Her foot was in bad shape, though it was not totally crushed. I hoped she had the circulation to keep the foot.

A man came up, underdressed for the weather, and introduced himself as an ER doc. He asked her name. She had the same last name as me. He asked her to move her toes, which she did, and told the policemen who had gathered that a tourniquet was unnecessary. None of the arteries had been severed. An ambulance arrived, and she was put on a gurney. Her leg had been wrapped in gauze, and put in a splint. She had been conscious the whole time, and I am confident that she will survive, and retain the use of her foot.

As I walked away, I saw the bus driver describing the event to two policemen. He hadn’t seen her.

On December 19th, 2024, Waymo released a report on their self-driving cars. They were involved in 88% fewer crashes involving property damage, and 92% fewer crashes involving bodily injury, than human drivers. These include cases where a human crashed into the Waymo. Self-driving cars are here, and they are far safer than humans.

This need not ever happen again.